paddled some way out to sea, he threw his line, and fished and
fished. After a little while he drew it in again to find, alas! that he
had caught nothing. For the second time he cast his line, and fished and
fished and fished, but on again pulling in the line he found that he had
no better luck. He now for the third time threw out his line, and fished
and fished and fished and fished, yet no better fortune attended him;
so, bitterly disappointed, he wound up the tackle and paddled home.

'Sorrowfully the unhappy father heard of his eldest son's want of
success, and then sent for his second eldest son, and requested him to
see if fortune would be kinder to him than it had been to his brother.
But, alas! he returned likewise without even so much as a whitebait.
Then, one after the other, he sent all his sons except myself, who am
the youngest of all, but not a little piece of luck awaited any of them.
The wretched man now called me to him and said:--"Son, hitherto I have
been reluctant to send one so young upon such an errand, but,
alack-a-day! you are now our only hope; unless good fortune waits upon
you we shall all perish."

[Illustration: YOU ARE NOW OUR ONLY HOPE]

'After comforting him as much as I could, and assuring him that I would
do my best, I hastened down to the shore and embarked in the little
boat. I paddled a good way out to sea until I came to a suitable
fishing-ground, and then threw out my line. I fished and fished and
fished and fished, and on drawing in my line found nothing on the hook
except the bait, a wretched piece of dried fish skin, which looked very
draggled as it rose from the water. "Better luck next time," thought I,
as I threw my line for the second time, and fished and fished and fished
and fished and fished. Yet, on pulling up the line, I found to my dismay
that instead of better luck I had even worse, if that were possible, for
the wretched bait had vanished from the hook. "Once more," thought I, as
I dropped my line overboard for the third time, "and, fish or no fish, I
must give it up, even though we all die of starvation." So I fished and
fished and fished and fished and fished with all my might, and when at
length I had hauled it in you may imagine my distress when I discovered
that not merely was there no fish upon the line, but that the hook
itself had disappeared. With tears of rage and disappointment I now gave
it up and prepared to return, but I had not gone very far when I
t